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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

RELEASE BLITZ: Saving sunni

Jessie Chambers—“Sunni” to the local BDSM community—needs to grow up. Her master, Sir Rune, has told her to get a job. Her sister slave sage is struggling through college, serious as ever. Sunni goes to the local goth/kink store, The Fringe Element, and is immediately embraced by its quirky owner as the newest member of her “little family.” But almost immediately things start to get complicated. Sunni’s ex shows up, claiming he’s found God and that God wants them to get back together. A video of Sunni and Sir Rune doing a scene at the club winds up on television and all kinds of trouble ensues. Sunni must figure out a way to restore her relationships, keep her master from getting deported, take over running the store, and stop everybody else from trying to “save Sunni.”

Review

This is the second book in the Keyhole Series. After reading both Becoming sage and Saving sunni, I would describe them as guides to the lifestyle. They could easily serve as a primer on the leather lifestyle written in narrative format. This is not to say that they aren’t compelling. In fact, both are raw, gritty and real – there’s no perfect solution easily found – as the characters work at building a relationship, albeit a nontraditional one. I love books that take this realism approach because readers come to feel as if it could possibly be real, and can even place themselves into the role of the characters.

Saving sunni begins where Becoming sage ended. It is told entirely from sunni’s perspective. Sunni introduced the floundering sage to the lifestyle in the previous book. Now sunni and sage live with Master Rune – they are his slaves. Sunni provides readers with a realistic look into the life of a polyamorous (“multiple loves”) relationship, giving those details that capture their family dynamic.

Trouble abounds for sunni just when she is discovering her true worth. She gets a job at a fetish shop, expands her circle of friends and finds success only to have her abusive ex-husband show up having found Jesus and wanting her back in his life. His persistence is equally annoying and worrisome. Like dominoes, a series of events unfold that affects their entire local leather community. How the characters deal with these events is what gives the storyline it’s substance.

Now, my one complaint would be Sir Rune himself. Just like in Becoming sage, I never feel an emotional connection with him. It worries me that sunni is writing the book and yet from her perspective, readers do not get an overwhelming sense that he is in love with her. He is never cruel but it’s the connection that seems lacking – maybe that’s his persona but seems to me other Dom portrayals are still able to provide readers with a real sense of caring missing from the cold characterization of Sir Rune.

I would strongly recommend Saving sunni (and Becoming sage) to anyone curious about alternative lifestyles - polyamory, BDSM, Puppy Play or M/s. And to those who like the realistic romance and have an open-mind, you’d like this book. Read it – then let me know what you think. I love to talk about the books I read!

RATING: 4 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

We will be offering the first chapter for FREE later this week.

Bio

Reggie & Kasi

Reggie and Kasi Alexander are writing partners as well as real-life Master and slave. They live the lifestyles that they write about and are passionate about sharing information concerning these relationship dynamics. Their goal is to help educate and dispel common misunderstandings often held by the general public. They live in the Denver, CO area with their partner Eeza and are active in the local kink community. In addition to writing, they own and operate a family business making chainmail jewelry and clothing through their company Poly’s Pleasures (www.polyspleasures.com). They can often be found at writing conventions and fetish events around the country and love to talk with their fans.

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